122nd Edition - 3/23/07

122 - The oldest age any person is known to have lived to (Jeanne Calment was born in 1875 and died in 1997).

• Blatant Self-Promotion

Reviews of "TMNT," "Shooter," "Reign Over Me," and "Pride."
Also, an interview with Chicago's own, Bernie Mac.
All on Stuff I Wrote.

• NCAA Basketball: 3 out of 4 is good enough for me

Last night, three games game down to the final seconds. And it is starting to be standard for Ohio State to be apart of one of them.

The Buckeyes were down 20 at one point in the first half. In fact, the most important play was probably the 3-point play they got at the buzzer at the end of the first half, decreasing the lead to 17. Tennessee can look at the free-throw line to figure out where they blew this one, and Oden's big paw. Tennessee went 8-17 from the line, and Oden (only scoring 9 points) had a block on the final Tennessee shot. Ohio State won 85-84.

Southern Illinois couldn't hold on against Kansas, but as soon as I saw Jim Belushi in the crowd I knew they were a goner. Can anything this guy attaches himself to be great? So. Ill. played some amazing man-to-man defense but had to heave a half-courter to try and tie it. Kansas wins 61-58.

Memphis squeaked by Texas A&M and UCLA won pretty easy over Pitt.

• Hawkeyes: Alford out

Steve Alford is done coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes. And we didn't have to fire him (which would have cost millions). Alford is headed to New Mexico because he wants to be at a school where basketball comes first. Well, ideally academics comes first - then whatever program is winning comes next. Alford came to Iowa the same time as Kirk Ferentz. Everyone I remember thought Alford was a brilliant hire, and no one knew who Ferentz was (we were still upset about not getting Bob Stoops).

Time has shown Alford can't do anything great. He isn't a fantastic recruiter. His coaching is sub-par, and when the Hawkeyes had off-the-court problems, he never inspired.

Here's what my friends had to say about his departure -
*I'm all broken up about it. (sarcasm)
*Yeah I saw that this morning.... What a shame. (sarcasm)
*He clearly was not a fit for Iowa. If we were supposed to be bad, we were. If we showed some promise, we drastically underperformed when it mattered (e.g., biggest upset of the tourney last year).
*At least with Dr. Tom we would make it to the second round.
*I'm just happy I'm a Tarheel now. I can't wait to get my 2007 NCAA champions hat. (This last one was from Mike D - the NFL picker who moved to Chapel Hill last week)

• Chicago Bulls - Tip-Doh!

It looked ugly with seconds left last night against the Nuggets. A loose ball, a bad shot from Gordon, a tip between Deng and Carmelo Anthony, then Tyrus Thomas tips in the game winner. Anthony said he would have rather lost by 100. Twelve games left. Bulls are 40-30.

• Cubs: Prior to this...

I was almost done with Prior. Then he went and pitched 4 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 run. It's like I'm George and he's Lizzy. I need to forget yesterday every happened. I mean, I married to a big, rich girl. I need to forget the past, and move forward even though Lizzy/Prior has been amazing before. OK, that's the last time I compare the Cubs with "Grey's Anatomy," I swear.

• Quick Hits

*Kobe Bryant - The man had 60 last night in a win over the Grizzlies. That is three 50-point games in a row, and he is one of three to have 4 or more 60-point games. I love watching this offense right now, but I find I am still in the stage of thinking half the shots (that end up going in) are bad ideas. He is the most fun train wreck to watch in sports right now.

*Coach Tubby Smith just made the Big Ten a little tougher ... I think, although he could simply be burnt out at Kentucky and looking to retire. Minnesota seems like the type of program where he could still earn his millions but not worry about pesky things like wins, and NCAA tournaments.

*Jonathan Papelbon is back as a closer for the Red Sox. He said he was losing sleep thinking about wanting to be back in the bullpen as the closer. This would have been good information before my baseball draft.

*Tony La Russa is an idiot. If you are rich, and like to drink far away from where you live ... Get someone else to drive you. It's that simple.

• Stuff

"Trapped in the Drive-Thru" - Another Weird Al gem ... 11 minutes long. Do you have what it takes to get through the whole thing? click here to watch